Prelude: ASGlacier
by Kadorhal
Summary: My attempt to explain why Izanagi Corporation's Ghost Warriors were not on Lamdon 3 when it was attacked during the Corporation Wars. One-shot, though I may bring the character back if there's enough interest.


Cold, as usual. It was always cold on Lamdon 3; that was how things were. The Izanagi Corporation decided this was the perfect place for one of their research facilities. It would be helpful, to say the least: little interference from any government or hostile corporations. The most interference they received was in the form of New Earth Government guards, straight from the legendary Thunder Crash team.

_They could never compare to the Ghost Warriors_, Sergeant Makron thought with a smirk. Izanagi had their own mercenary force, the equally legendary Ghost Warriors. Only a few had been on Lamdon 3 recently, and the few that were on it were being sent away that very day.

Makron was pleased to finally leave this frozen hell of a planet. It was boring. Sure, his job was to protect Izanagi's assets, and the location of the facility made it hard to find, which in turn made his job easier, but it was _boring_. He wanted to at least have a small attack, just so he could have the chance to shoot something that wouldn't unleash the wrath of the NEG on him.

He sighed, the taste and feel of pure cold filling his mouth once again. Snow drifted from the sky above, a sky almost as dull and gray as the snow on the ground. He looked around; saw a pair of NEG mercs talking about whatever. One of them had a new toy.

Makron was over there in seconds. "Hey, what've you got there?" he asked, eyeing the yellowish/orange box of a firearm.

The merc holding it grinned. "Like it, don't ya? It's a Trident Defense Technologies Series 7. New model, the Mark 2. Improved over the last one."

Makron nodded. "Yeah, I've heard of that. Pretty useful gun, isn't it? So how does it work?"

The merc held the flak cannon up a bit higher. "It uses fragmentation grenades as ammo. They're stored in this magazine - this display shows you how much is in the mag, right - and it has two firing modes." This interested Mak; most weapons that could fire more than one way were at least worthy of his time. "Primary method fragments the grenade and launches ionized flak shards in a shotgun-like pattern. Secondary launches the entire grenade; it detonates on impact." It was indeed interesting.

Mak smirked, hoping to get his hands on one of these cannons soon. After a short goodbye he returned to his post. On the way there, he stopped and looked into the sky, focusing on something nearly invisible. The corporation was serious about not being discovered; the ships the Ghost Warriors were being ferried off-planet in were painted about the same color as the sky and the snow. As with all camouflage, though, it wasn't perfect, but it came damn close, as Mak only noticed it because of its movement.

He had been waiting the entire damn day to get off this rock. Why were they waiting until every other Ghost Warrior was off the planet before they sent him off too? God damn it.

Snow continued to lightly tap the facility. Mak's shift outside was over; someone with Thunder Crash took over for him. Mak never really learned his name. He went inside and was immediately called to a lower area.

Mak caught up with Jade on the way to the elevator. She had just come up it. Jade was the only female Ghost Warrior left on the planet, for the time; it just so happened she was a friend of Mak's. They didn't have time to talk right now, though. Jade had to redeem her ticket out of Lamdon 3 and Mak was needed downstairs.

A large, unfamiliar area greeted the Ghost Warrior. Stepping out, he was immediately harassed by a pair of NEG troops. Odd that Izanagi trusted New Earth Government mercs more than they trusted their own bodyguards. Then again, the NEG guys were stationed here a bit more permanently than Mak and pals were. After they successfully ID'd him, they let him continue.

A scientist, Antony, greeted Mak; Mak didn't know him personally, but he did know the guy had a reputation for being real friendly with the GW's. "Hey, Sergeant, glad you could make it. There's something I need you to check out."

Mak grunted. "What is it? More construction?"

The scientist's response was somewhat cryptic. "In a manner of speaking, yes, more construction. Follow me."

Lead down out of the observation deck for the arena below, Mak was greeted by an amazing vehicle. White as the snow outside, with a large barrel that reached out to the very front of the chassis, and a dual minigun turret on top. "W-what...is this?"

Antony grinned, pushing up his glasses with one finger. "The Ion Plasma Tank, what we were designing here. It's been kept under wraps, mostly; only the Ghost Warriors and the men who worked on it know it's here." Sorry you're the last one to learn about it, he didn't say.

He proceeded onto a live demonstration of the new vehicle's power. Small arms fire practically bounced off its armor. Explosives barely did any damage. Most exciting was its weaponry; true to its name, the cannon launched a large ball of purple plasma, which, after staying inert at its destination for a second, exploded, completely obliterating the demo target. "And on top of that, any infantry caught within the blast radius are immediately vaporized. They're lucky if even their bones remain."

Mak was nearly brought to tears at the amazing destructive power this weapon possessed. "It's...beautiful."

Antony smirked. "That's been the general consensus, Sarge."

A voice came over the speaker on the wall. "Sergeant Makron, this is flight control. Your transport off of Lamdon 3 will be leaving in two hours."

Mak nodded. "Affirmative, control." He turned back to Antony. "Has this technology been used anywhere else?"

"Well, if we ever sell this to the New Earth Government, they may try to make a satellite-based variation of it. It'll be hell finding out how to use it effectively, though." On a tank it was easy; just aim, pull the trigger, and boom: you did more than blow a hole in something, you blew the entire something and everything near it to kingdom come. On a satellite, there'd be a shitload of trouble of using probably very expensive equipment to make sure it aimed at the right place, and supplying the power to make the blast reach from orbit to the surface and decimate everything near the target area, not to mention such a powerful weapon would probably need a high level of clearance to get permission to use it.

Mak said goodbye, in the process finally learning the scientist's name. He returned to the first floor to find himself only one of four remaining Ghost Warriors on the planet, with two scheduled to leave in about ten minutes, and the third to leave in an hour. Mak would be all alone.

If he would be alone, he'd make the most of it. With all guard posts now taken over by the NEG mercenaries, he wouldn't have anything to do for the next two hours. Sure, he could watch the plasma tank some more, but there was a difference between blasting cardboard cutouts and living, breathing enemies, as well as a difference between watching immense destruction and _causing_ it.

Finding an empty computer terminal, Mak went to work to find out all he could on the newest TDT cannon model. He found out the exact name, manufacturer, how long it had been worked on, and when someone outside of Thunder Crash would get to use it. Fifteen days. Hopefully by then he would have found another opportunity in his career path; an ionized flak shotgun didn't seem like the kind of firearm any government would like any random citizen causing trouble with. Mak was an okay guy when it came to his hobbies: he absolutely loved causing havoc, but he was real damn good at making sure only his opponents were caught within it, and never had he confused "opponent" and "innocent bystander".

What was originally a search for a new toy degenerated into mindless web surfing; Mak, catching himself bored as hell, quickly jumped out of the seat and shut off the terminal. He instinctively looked to the bottom-left of his peripheral vision, expecting a clock to let him know how much longer he had; he forgot that with him off guard duty for the remainder of his stay, he wasn't allowed to wear full combat equipment. Damn it again. _Now I have to look for a damned clock,_ he growled. Thankfully, one was close; he had spent about 20 minutes on the terminal. _God DAMN it._

Mak yawned, realizing he hadn't had much sleep recently; compensation for the fact he wouldn't have any more time on guard duty here, he guessed. Whatever the case, he set his alarm for around when his transport would take off and slept.

He forgot that he **REALLY** hated the sound of the alarm clock Izanagi gave him. As a parting gift, and to help satisfy his craving for havoc, he smashed the bastard into tiny pieces. With one less near-useless object in the room, Mak packed his things for the trip off planet. He realized how similar the last two hours were when compared to a child getting out of school for summer vacation, a lot like he had been. Unlike back then, though, sleeping through the wait was only an option if staying behind an extra half-hour sounded good. Sleeping too long would have the same effect here, and Mak did NOT want to spend any more time on this ice cube than he had to.

Another check of ID, and he was sent onto the transport, glad to finally leave. Sighing contently, he decided to spend the trip searching the computer terminal for any jobs he could take; hopefully ones that didn't turn out as boring as this one had been.

The Izanagi Corporation's research facility was raided by Axon Corporation commandos two days later, as part of the Corporation Wars. The Axon commandos were able to steal the Ion Plasma Tank and, using its destructive power, blast their way back out to safety. The subterfuge of the Corporation Wars set off a long chain of events, the end result of which was the legalization of "consensual murder": with that, the Tournament was formed.


End file.
